How to Always Get the Airplane Seat You Want

Few things are reviled in life quite like the middle seat—in fact, some hotels even offer upgrades to those who've been stuffed there en route. Fear not: There's an app that will ensure you never get stuck there again. While SeatGuru can show you the best seats on the plane, ExpertFlyer can help you actually score one of the best seats in the cabin—before anyone else gets the chance.

How It Works

ExpertFlyer is a free app that keeps real-time track of available seats in every cabin. Not only can it show you which seats are taken (not all that helpful, admittedly), it can notify you when and if a seat you're interested in becomes available. That's right: If you're looking for any available aisle seat, you can literally tick a box for your flight for "any available aisle seat." If one opens up, you'll get an alert, putting you first in line to select it. The same goes for any specific seat. You can be as particular as 21A, or as vague as any aisle. You can get alerts directly from the app, or in your email inbox. Once you receive your handy alert, you'll just need to pop over to your airline's app or website to swap seats directly, before anyone else.

Avoid Extra Fees

Airlines love the game of charging you for many of the seats you'd realistically like. The app knows which seats are available for anyone to select for free, and which are only available for purchase, such as the first row of economy, or an exit row. While setting your alerts in the app, you can easily select free only, paid or both—to keep you from getting your hopes up. As passengers get upgraded and play the "better seat" shuffle, things really do open up.

A Few Other Tricks

If using your credit card points or airline miles toward an unforgettable trip is the goal, the paid version of ExpertFlyer is an incredible tool. For $10.99 per month, which you can cancel at any time, the app will help you set alerts and show availability for using miles toward seats in first, business, premium economy or economy, or even upgrades from one to another. You can set as many alerts as you like, setting them one flight and cabin at a time. It may take a little while, but search once, and never again is tough to beat. Furthermore, the app displays real-time availability for paid tickets, so you can know for sure if there really is only "one ticket left" at that great price, or if there are realistically more like ten.